I collected baseball cards from the late '80s through 2002. Then I went to college and when I came out, I was lost. There were too many brands, sets, choices, relics, autos, parallels, variations. It was a turn off. However, I slowly made my way back.
So here is my attempt to venture back into the hobby. I'll buy a few packs of cards here and there, comment on some cards I have, send out some TTMs, and follow the progress of my Topps Yankees Project.

Tabs

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Frequently we discuss the generosity of other bloggers and
collectors. I was recently on the receiving end of another one of these
instances.

As a player collector, I know how hard it is to assemble a
collection you feel proud of for being truly unique. I’d like to think I have
the best Tino Martinez collection out there, but I don’t believe that’s true. I’m
missing too many high end cards. Therefore, I frequently find myself “oohing”
and “ahhing” over Brian’s collection over at Collecting Cutch. Brian quite
possibly has the greatest Andrew McCutchen collection on Earth. That is not an
exaggeration. While there may be others who super collect Cutch, I’m not sure
anyone can boast over 100 different autos, rookie superfractors, bat knobs, etc.
But Brian can. And I admire his dedication. Now I just hope Cutch doesn’t get
traded…

For being a loyal reader of the blog Collecting Cutch and
giving him a Twitter shoutout, Brian hooked me up big time. He said he was
focusing on quality over quantity. Hmmm, I thought. Either way, always
appreciate freebies. What I got definitely floored me:

My first 1/1 Tino!!!!!!! Oh man, I’ve been wanting one of
these. Since Tino isn’t someone featured on current cards, his printing plates
and 1 of 1s are not easy to find. I couldn’t be happier to finally have one
from 1996 Pacific! Just the other day I was trying to figure out what my rarest
Tino was. Now I know for certain.

As if that wasn’t cool enough, check this out! These are the
photo matches of Tino’s 1996 Bowman – front and back – from the Topps Vault!

I need to frame those, right?!

Man, Brian. I can’t thank you enough. Two very unique,
one-of-a-kind items. I really appreciate it!

Monday, January 30, 2017

It’s not often you get a HOF TTM autograph back every day, so
it’s special when one comes back.

Joe Morgan – HOF 2B and member of The Big Red Machine –
signed my 2016 Topps Bunt in a little over a week. For a long time Morgan only
signed index cards, so I’m not sure where the change of heart came from. I sort
of wish I sent an older Topps card, although the Bunt card doesn’t look bad and
does have a great surface for an auto.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Ok, Johnny has definitely sent me far more packages than I've sent him. I gotta fix that. I feel bad, as I had this package in my "to be sorted" pile and then realized I didn't recall scanning it or posting it. Sorry, John!

Most of the package included nearly complete team sets of 1993 and 1994 Stadium Club Yankees issues. There's some good TTM fodder in there too!

Thursday, January 26, 2017

First off, a very cool mini Eric Jagielo. Although Jagielo isn't part of the Yankees organization any more, he sort of still is. He was in the initial trade where the Yankees acquired Aroldis Chapman from the Reds. The Yanks obviously then got Gleyber Torres and others from the Cubs for Chapman, and ended up re-signing Chapman. So the Yankees essentially swapped Jagielo for Torres. It's not quite that clean, as a lot of other players were involved.

Now we're talking. Yankees 2016 3rd-rounder Nolan Martinez. I can't help but like that his name is a combo of Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez, so it looks like we've got a future HOFer on our hands. Just 18 years old (born in 1998!!!), Nolan is current MLB.com's 30th best prospect.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Former major league funny guy Jay Johnstone signed my Yankees card in just 7 days. He also added the great Cubs card, which really captures his class-clown personality.

I found it interesting that the signature on the Cubs is in blue and a little fatter looking, but I assume he just has a large stack of this card pre-signed and adds them to outgoing envelopes.

Johnstone is known as one of MLB's all-time pranksters, from putting baked goods into teammates gloves to lighting cleats on fire to buying hot dogs mid-game.Oh, the outrage if that kind of stuff happened today!

He had a solid playing career as well, and was a member of the Yankees 1978 World Series winning team. He also played a key role in defeating the Yankees in the '81 Series. I wasn't born yet so I can't be too upset.

Johnson also wrote a note on my note, saying that he'd sign anything for a $15 check to the Wounded Warriors. Very cool.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

I like my nachos to have some liquid gold in the form of nacho cheese. Lots of it. In fact, last Monday we took the kids to Disney on Ice, and I definitely downed some nachos. I don't like to go crazy with toppings. I just got nachos with one compartment of salsa, and the other compartment of the aforementioned liquid gold.

I also love to put a nacho chip in the hot liquid cheese and let it sit there for a few minutes, then take it out when it's a bit mushy and cheesy. It's the simple pleasures.

I prefer some jalapeños on there as well, but just a few. And in a setting where I have more control of the situation, I like some buffalo chicken or ground beef and chili on there. No sour cream. Ever. No guac. Ever.

So I'm pretty simple when it comes to my nachos.

Speaking of gold and nachos, Chris over at Nachos Grande has been breaking a product near and dear to my heart - 1996 Collector's Choice. I grew up on Collector's Choice, so I've been enjoying each post as he takes us pack-by-pack through his box.

I was surprised when he pulled a usually-one-per-box gold signature of this guy:

Yeah, Tino! Before he was a Yankee, but still, Tino! Popping out in a spring training game! I quickly checked my Tino list and sure enough, this card was not on there. I needed it!

I left a comment, and Chris was kind enough to send the card my way in a PWE packed with a few other Yankees. Not a bad way to get Tino #779!

The card that caught my eye most was a terrific looking
Masahiro Tanaka. I didn’t recognize the design, but it just so happens it came
from 2014 Panini Black Friday. I’m uncertain if they still do it, but I really
like how Panini puts out cards around Black Friday and Father’s Day, to name a
few. Really cool concept. That fact that it’s an oddball RC helps too!

Ian Clarkin is easy to overlook. With the Yankees having
sstrong pitching prospects like James Kaprielian and Justus Sheffield, Clarkin is
often a bit forgotten, especially having missed 2015 with an arm injury.
However, last year he threw 98 important innings at High A Tampa, and he will
certainly look to build on that this year. He’s currently listed as the Yankees
#17 prospect according to MLB.com, but I think his talent is better that. He
was a first rounder, after all, and now just needs to stay on the mound.

Two absolutely sweet cards of the Yankees corner infield of
the early ‘90s. Topps Embossed was fun, albeit pricey. CVS carried them, so I
did get a few packs of them. The Boggs Collector’s Choice Gold Sig is a beauty
too!

Speaking of gold, while I’m not the biggest fan of Gypsy
Queen, their colored bordered parallels always look great.

Prospects! I already had the Gamel/Barbato, but I’ll
definitely be using it for spring TTMs to each guy, so I appreciate the dupe.

I like this Babe Ruth set more and more. Hopefully these
packs start replacing Triple Play in repacks.

Man, Whitey Ford was good. I don’t look at his stats very
often, but they always blow me away when I do.

Douglas, thanks for the great batch of cards and sending
them all the down to New Jersey!